


Delayed Adoption

by Hekate1308



Series: Baggage [6]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2019-01-18 14:48:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12390273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hekate1308/pseuds/Hekate1308
Summary: She could never have foreseen just how much of an impact the boy who came through the door one afternoon would have on their lives. He looked like he was about twelve. Karen Singer's story.





	Delayed Adoption

After the doctors had told them the truth, she had cried for a week, and then she had only stopped because she didn’t want her husband to worry. She had always wanted children, ever since she was a little girl; Bobby had been a bit more reluctant, but that was more than understandable, given his family history. Karen was glad his father was long gone, otherwise she would have been tempted to do something unspeakable.

Still, she was convinced Bobby would have made a wonderful father.

But it was not to be, and she had to live with that.

They built their life accordingly. Bobby opened his salvage yard, and soon found many happy customers; and she finally found peace in the library, helping people to embrace and love the stories she had adored her whole life.

She could never have foreseen just how much of an impact the boy who came through the door one afternoon would have on their lives. He looked like he was about twelve.

He approached her, greeting her with a polite “Good afternoon, ma’am.”

“Thank you, but you can call me Karen” she replied, gesturing towards her name tag.

He blushed and insisted on calling her “Mrs. Singer.”

It was utterly adorable, although she was careful not to let him know; he would soon hit puberty, and she didn’t want to make him uncomfortable.

HE asked about science fiction, and she was happy to show him. About half an hour after she’d left him in the section, he came to her desk with three books.

 _Dune_ , _The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy_ and _Breakfast Of Champions_. She was impressed.

“Mrs. Singer” he said, sounding unsure and holding up the book by Vonnegut, “I don’t know – I’m kind of interested, but it sounds weird – “

“That’s perfectly fine” she assured him, “You have to try Vonnegut to see if you like him.”

He nodded.

A week later, he came back, his cheeks glowing, and told her all about Kilgore Trout, and how he and Dwayne Hoover should probably not have met because it would have been better for all involved.

Karen was amused until the same thing happened again and again, with every book Dean (as she had soon learned) borrowed, and he began spending whole afternoons in the library, reading and chatting with her and eating slices of her home-made pie (she wasn’t supposed to bring food into the library, but Dean’s eyes lit up every time she did).

She wondered why he apparently had no one in his life to discuss books with, despite him talking with affection on his parents and his little brother; and then she grew concerned about jsut how lonely this little boy was.

Bobby could only shrug his shoulders when she told him about it. “But you say he’s being treated well, right?”

“I think so. I just – I can’t help but feeling he doesn’t feel allowed to be himself at home.”

And that was just too sad to contemplate. Dean had just turned twelve. He shouldn’t have had to worry about such things.

“Hm. You said his father was a mechanic, right?”

She nodded. Dean had let it slip a few days ago.

“I think I know a guy with two boys... he sometimes comes to the Salvage Yard. I’ll see what I can get out of him next time he needs spare parts.”

That was just her husband, ready to check out a family on the off-chance that a child needed help. She couldn’t help but kiss him.

A few weeks later, Bobby told her about the picture John had shown him when he’d asked about his children, and there was no doubt about it. There could only be one twelve-year-old named Dean with such green eyes and freckles. John was indeed Dean’s father, and Bobby said that he appeared to be a “pretty straight-forward bloke. Certainly no bastard. There’s just one thing that confuses me. The way he talks about Dean and the way you talk about Dean, it’s like hearing about two completely different boys. Your Dean, he loves books and school and is pretty quiet, and John speaks of him being an “all-American boy” as if being loud and obnoxious and only ever being interested in sports is some kind of honour badge.”

So she had been right. Dean felt he couldn’t be himself at home.

That was just...

She swallowed.

“I invited John to a beer. I’m pretty sure we’re on our way to being friends” Bobby said. “I don’t think he’d ever hurt his kids intentionally, but I’d rather keep an eye on the boys.”

She smiled. They understood one another perfectly.

Once Bobby and John had got to know each other well enough to want to introduce her and Mrs. Winchester – Mary – she came to share her husband’s views even more than before.

The Winchesters were by no means bad people. Only old-fashioned, and stuck in their ways and beliefs to an almost alarming degree. Mary loved her sons with all her heart, but she apparently had never considered the fact of children growing up and changing over time. Dean was outgoing, yes, but also interested in academia, and very bright.

John Winchester... there, her feelings were more complicated. She had every reason to think that he had shaped not only Mary’s, but also his sons’ view of themselves. Yet, at the same time, he was a devoted father who just wanted both his boys to have an equal chance of doing well in life.

Like she said, complicated.  

She and Bobby decided they should probably not speak of Dean’s visits of the library to his parents. He was safe while he was there, he had created his own space to be himself; why should they disturb the status quo? Especially because she had the bad feeling that Dean might end up being laughed at.

Still, she wished with all her heart that Dean could at least find one friend who understood him.

And then he did.

Everyone in town knew the boy he brought with him to the library one day. Fergus Crowley. The son of Rowena Crowley.

And everyone said he was just as bad as his mother, so she watched them with eagle eyes.

But she soon found that Dean was actually looking more relaxed than he had since they met; and once she spoke to Fer – no, Crowley, he hated his first name, she soon came to know – was just a little odd, if even that. Sure, thirteen-year-olds weren’t known for wearing a suit at all times, or being that confident and self-assured. But there was nothing wrong with that.

And yet she knew the Winchesters wouldn’t understand.

So Dean’s and Crowley’s friendship became another secret.

They developed a routine that was only broken when Castiel Novak arrived in their lives. This led to another realization.

Karen had never really wondered if Dean and Crowley liked girls, boys, both or something else entirely. Why should she? Live and let live, that was her and Bobby’s motto. As long as their boys ended up happy, she didn’t care with whom.

And it didn’t take her long to see that Dean and Cas were falling in love. There was something innocent about it, something touching; it reminded her of when she and Bobby had first met.

“As long as he treats Dean right..:” Bobby said when she gushed about them.

“Believe me, he does. I have my suspicions that Cas and Crowley are trying to get Dean to contemplate college.”

“Think we should help them with that?”

There could only be one answer, and slowly, they became used to seeing the boys plus Dean’s brother Sam in their home.

So when Dean told her that he had been ordered not to see Crowley again – just to let fall his best friend of four years – it was clear that they would allow their house to become their “secret base” as Sam, that bright and loveable boy called it one day. Quite frankly, she was rather happy of keeping Crowley away from his mother too, That woman had caused some serious damage to that poor child.

They had no proof though, and every time she tried to ask about Rowena, he would shut down. Therefore, the only way to look after him was to encourage Crowley to come over as often as he wanted; and soon enough, one room in their home could by all means be called Crowley’s. He certainly spent more than half the days of the week at their place.

And all the time, the group was growing closer, and Dean and Cas had finally got together.

Their lives were looking more and more promising each day; and Karen would have lied if she hadn’t thought that her and bobby had something to do with it.

She would never forget the day their letters from Harvard arrived. They opened them at the same time, and a short time later, the shouts of joy from young voices she thought she would never hear in her home echoed through the rooms.

During the graduation, she and Bobby felt everything proud parents would have felt.

And as they drove off, she could only say one thing.

“We adopted four boys” she said to Bobby, so quietly that the others couldn’t hear her.

“Damn right we did” he answered in the same tone, “And they grew up great.”

**Many years later**

“And Kansas goes blue!”

She and Bobby were glued to their TV. Their home state had just voted for a democratic presidential candidate for the first time in years.

She pressed her husband’s hand. “Oh Bobby – “

He nodded. “Looks like our boys are about to be the leaders of the free world.”

As soon as she had heard that Dean and Crowley intended to run for President and Vice President, she had known that there were no men in the world she’d rather have sitting in the White House. Intelligent, Compassionate and (in Crowley’s case) with considerable experience pulling political strings in the background.

Despite their belief that he and had better things to do, they managed to call Crowley soon after his victory was called.

“Karen, Bobby. You will come to the Inauguration, I hope?”

There could only be one answer.

And as they watched Crowley take the oath of office, Bobby took her hand.

She whispered, “Our boys are doing well for themselves.”


End file.
